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I graduated from college as Title IX was being passed, opening up a world of sports to girls. Unless you were extraordinarily gifted, there just wasn't much before. I had little to no athletic ability growing up. I wanted to play softball (the girls' equivalent of my favorite sport, baseball) but I was fat, slow and clumsy. I was allowed to play because I was big and could block the plate. As long as I could do that, I could be the catcher in slow-pitch 16-inch softball; there was no stealing and all I had to do was catch the ball and throw it back to the pitcher.
But once I got to age 16, there was nothing left for me. So I had decided to be a sports writer long before that happened. Unfortunately, at my high school, Mother Guerin, there was only one sport, girls' basketball, so when I got to be sports editor, I had to be very creative in putting out a sports section.
I didn't have that problem once I got my first job on a newspaper. There were plenty of sports for girls. Now, the issue was getting the sports covered.
I made it my job to get those girls' sports in the paper. In Carpentersville and Elgin, Illinois, that wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Both Ken Veloskey and Ken Dunwoody were happy to get the girls' sports into the paper, and in fact, the girls' teams in our area were very successful. The Dundee girls' basketball team had gone to the Illinois state tournament the year before.
While in Illinois, I made sure the volleyball, track and softball teams got in the paper as often as the boys' teams. The coaches and parents were thrilled. So much so, one of the coaches quit calling the daily Elgin paper because it didn't give the local girls' teams enough ink. She told that paper's sports editor (a man who once told me during a job interview I wasn't good enough because I was too fat and didn't write like him) she was giving all her reports only to the Elgin Herald.
I continued that policy in Montana, although sometimes our ad manager didn't agree with my coverage. But I was the sports editor there and I gave equal coverage.
So when I came to South Dakota, there was no reason for me to change. Our sports editor, Ron Feickert, had no problem with this; neither did the executive editor, Cindy Eikamp. But there were some who didn't think girls' sports counted.
"If it's not on TV, it doesn't matter," said Matt Schmidt, my colleague in the sports department. According to him, volleyball, track, swimming, cross country, girls' basketball, etc., were not sports because they were not on television.
And he's not the only one who believed that. I butted heads with many a sports writer over this issue. It's one of the reasons I got out of sports. I got tired of dealing with guys who wouldn't give women an equal break. Eventually, it led to burnout (at least one of the reasons).
But I did encounter others who were happy the girls were getting more coverage. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were among those. These were the people for whom I wrote. I wanted to make sports more than just game stories; I wanted to tell stories about the games and the people who played them. I wrote those stories for people who didn't usually read sports.
Along the way, I saw Jackie Joyner (before she was Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the Olympic athlete) long jump in the Illinois State High School track meet. I was shooting photos of our Dundee athlete, Cheryl Cleveland, who was in the same preliminary flight. Joyner advanced; Cleveland didn't.
There was a young woman in Elgin who stands out, Donna Alvine. She played softball, volleyball and basketball. But Alvine was born with just one leg and only parts of fingers on one hand. I first saw her play softball; she was a catcher. She had an artificial leg from above the knee down. She had nubs of fingers on one hand, too. When she played volleyball, in which she was a setter, the officials had to be told about the deformity on her hand because it might look like she was lifting the ball.
Alvine was playing basketball one day in a Christmas tournament at Cary-Grove High School in Cary, Illinois. People thought she was injured and were upset that her coach would allow her to play with this big brace on her leg. But later, they saw her take her leg off; then they thought she was courageous. Alvine just shrugged. She had been doing this since she was a child.
She also rode a motorcycle and skied. And after high school, she got a scholarship to play at the local community college.
In South Dakota there was Julie Jensen, who starred at Langford High School and then Northern State University, setting college scoring records. But in between the stars and the unusual stories, there were everyday athletes who were just playing because they enjoyed the games and were getting a chance to play.
And because they were getting a chance to play in youth leagues and high school, many went on to get college scholarships. That didn't lead to professional leagues at all because until recently there were few professional opportunities in sports for women. But they were able to use their athletic abilities to get college degrees, and that was more important than any professional sports leagues.
Somehow I hope along the way, I hope the stories I was able to tell inspired some young athlete to compete and excel.
So many of my memories of South Dakota and Aberdeen were from the people I met, both at the paper and the people I interviewed. First, as with most newspapers, the staff was like a family. And for a single woman like me, that was important. From the beginning, those in the newsroom were my family.
The first Thanksgiving there, our managing editor, Heidi Reuter, invited all the singles over for dinner. Other holidays, I spent with Wally and Margie Mundstock down in Redfield, where they had bought a newspaper. It was good to have my Montana family nearby, too.
This was the first morning newspaper at which I worked, and it suited me just fine. I was a night owl anyway, so getting into work at 3 or 4 p.m. was just the right time. Often after work, a bunch of us would go out for beer or a bite to eat. Patanna Zimmerman, Whitey Didreckson from the back shop, Gail O'Neill, photographer Dick Carlson ... we'd go out to a restaurant for a late breakfast after the paper was out, or close out the bar. The camaraderie was much like it was on my first paper.
The sports staff was a good bunch, too. Sports Editor Ron Feickert had lived in Aberdeen all his life and knew just about everything about the city. As a young boy, he worked the manual scoreboard at the Aberdeen Pheasants ballpark and remembered when Baltimore Oriole great Cal Ripken Jr. was a kid running around the park as his dad managed the Orioles farm team.
Feickert was a heavy smoker, and you could smell him coming back from the smoking dock, the smoke lingering long after on him. When the company decided no smoking would be allowed on company grounds, he gave up the habit. And it was a big difference. I was happy he did because I like Ron a lot. I wouldn't wish cancer or heart disease on anyone. Unfortunately, Ron died recently of lung cancer.
I learned a lot about editing from Ron. Before I worked in Aberdeen, I had only edited my own copy and while in Illinois, one other person. So this was the first time anyone had edited my copy. Sometimes we didn't always agree on things he cut and sometimes we could butt heads on things, but for the most part, we got along. I remember after I took my writing test for my job interview, Ron told me I had written the two stories he gave me better than what they had in the paper.
There was Matt Schmidt, our other sports writer, and Dave Vilhauer, who eventually became a full-time writer. He had worked for a long time at the American News while he was going to college before he became full time. After all the years at the newspaper, he recently moved over to radio. Hard to think of Dave not being at the American News.
Our group of part-timers was a mixed bag. Most were either high school or college kids who had an interest in sports or wanted to be sports writers. Some had some ability; some were goofballs. Then there was Scott Waltman.
While he was in high school, Waltman was one of the "goofball" bunch. He was one of those who loved to recycle the SportsCenter catchphrases and seemed to get things wrong. But when he went away to college and we needed a sports intern one year, we brought him in, and he was a different guy. Suddenly, Waltman had grown up.
I remember one evening he came in and was upset he had made a mistake in that day's paper. OK, I told him, write a correction and we'll take care of it. He had never been so distraught about other miscues. But now was different. Now he was different. I told him mistakes were going to happen. We just had to do the best we could to prevent them. But even so, occasionally, some errors still slipped through. And then, you wrote the correction, learned from it and moved forward.
Scott did pretty well as our sports intern that fall. So much so he is now the managing editor of the American News. I think he has done very well for himself.
The newsroom was a close group, so the sports and news folks mingled enough, unlike some other papers. I remember well Russ Keen, a chain-smoking news reporter who sat near me for years. He was a sweet guy who wouldn't hurt a fly. A few years ago, he was killed in an auto accident.
I enjoyed my eight years in Aberdeen, mostly because of the people I worked with and those I met, and the stories I covered. We used to joke the crime rate in Aberdeen was so low because it was too cold in the winter to commit crimes - everyone stayed inside. But it was also because everyone knew you, too. People took the time to come up and say hi in stores (sometimes that was good, sometimes not so good) and they also looked out for you. It was the way of the small town.
Hi Ladies,
I dont really get hungry. I think its more head hunger when i eat off plan.
Its trying to rain today, at least its cooler today. Dont have much planned for today.
B egg whites ham and cheese omelet and string cheese
L cottage cheese and turkey deli meat
D cheeseburger with slimwich and mixed veggies
S greek yogurt, turkey sausage snack sticks, and apple
Have a good day
Hey Nancy and All,
I'm like you in the never getting hungry. I usually end up with a headache and then I try to determine is it because I water or food or both. Even though I don't get hungry, I still eat out of boredom or from stress. The other day, I found myself in the kitchen just looking for something healthy to snack on and I stopped and thought why am I doing this...I'm not hungry; I'm not thirsty. I realized that I was just bored. I eat because I'm bored. When I was making all the apple sauce and jelly and canning apples, I didn't have time to stop and eat so when DH came home he asked me what I ate for lunch and I said, I didn't eat and he said all day and I said yep all day. That's the good thing about my RNY too...I don't get hungry and I cannot tolerate sugar.
So, today I am back in the kitchen canning. I've got probably one more canner load of potatoes to can and then I am going to start doing something with these pumpkins. Daughter brought me a trunk full but I have a truck full at her farm waiting on me this weekend. I'm going to go down and take my pressure canner and between her, my sister, and our grandkids, we are going to can that truck load of pumpkins. Today, I'm going to see how many pumpkins fill 21 quarts. LOL....The things I get myself into.
Food today will be interesting. I promised to eat while canning so I made everything up to just grab.
B: 1/2 cup of loaded oatmeal. I added about 1/8th cup of roasted walnuts, 1/4 cup of diced apples.
L: tomato sandwich
D: 1 cup of Shrimp in a pot (Shrimp with a pot of soup)
Snack: I have some celery and carrot spears ready to grab
Water: I am back to scheduling my water intake because my doc called me and said that my lab results reflected a bad case of dehydration and was I feeling dizzy or having heart palpitations and I said, nope, not at all and he said then you are probably staying in a state of dehydration. He wanted me to meet him at the ER and let them pump me full of IV fluids but I asked could I drink water, eat a banana, eat salt, and eat fruit to fix everything and he said, I'd rather do it quickly and I said, as long as I do it. So, I started scheduling water...I have to go back this afternoon so they can do a check to see if I'm good....I already feel better.
So every hour, I am drinking water. Sucks.
Happy Friday, everyone!
Well, today the old oak trees along our driveway are showing a few batches of ORANGE leaves and, although I LOVE the FALL, I hate the thought of the cold stuff coming. I've been staying close to home this week..serious insomnia...Wednesday night, I went to bed at midnight and did not fall asleep until 10 am Thursday morning...this sure screws up my days and really affects my productivity.
I have been working hard at my illustrations and doing paperwork and negotiations for our BPW 2017 conference, recording everything in my "Master" Binder. I created the programmes schedule for our sorority's season, adjusted it a bit and now that is completed. I have another garbage bag filled with crocheted shawls, lap blankets, infinity scarves...about 15 pieces now, to donate and am also studying ...taking an online course from the University of Australia on Dementia, to improve the effects of my artwork colouring book for seniors. That certificate, along with my certification as a lifepath coach, and my article about the plasticity of the brain, will hopefully assist me in marketing my work for the senior-care industry. If it helps ONE person reconnect with loved ones, I will be happy.
Jennifer (Danny's girlfriend), now has a part time job but the hours are usually over dinner time. So I plan to drive up there once a week and show the girls (11 and14) some easy & nutritious recipes to make for their supper and for Dan & Jen when THEY get home.
I had my "mammo" last week and see my Oncologist next week...almost five years on meds for stage 2 breast cancer (second time...different side)...I can hardly wait til I am told "no more medication!".
Breakfast at 4 pm...hot protein drink
Snack: 1/2 apple
Lunch: 1/2 cup of chicken soup & 1/2 apple
Dinner: baked beans
Bedtime Snack: likely 1/2 hot soup
I have never recovered any appetite since my RnY and must make a point of eating on a schedule. Whodda EVER thought that I would find myself NOT hungry and feeling like "oh darn, I'd better eat something"....lolol...ain't life grand?
you cats sounds like my "14 lbs baby" cat.. he is 2 years old but behaves like a spoiled brat.. ..
Maybe she needed you to sit and relax and just be? you know you are retired? right?
Hala. RNY 5/14/2008; Happy At Goal =HAG
"I can eat or do anything I want to - as long as I am willing to deal with the consequences"
"Failure is not falling down, It is not getting up once you fell... So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again...."
picture of the poncho?
Hala. RNY 5/14/2008; Happy At Goal =HAG
"I can eat or do anything I want to - as long as I am willing to deal with the consequences"
"Failure is not falling down, It is not getting up once you fell... So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again...."
Hi Jeannie,
You are so busy all the time. I helped my mom canned tomatoes but that was many years ago.
I woke up in a better mood toda, and appley. I got my walk in and did some housework. I even pulled out the stove and refridgerator to clean behind there. The pest control is coming tomorrow to spray.
B egg whites ham and cheese omelet and string cheese.
L cottage cheese and turkey deli meat
D chicken and butternut squash
S greek yogurt, turkey sausage snack sticks and apple
Have a good evening
My day is going great. I am peeling potatoes and getting ready to can them so I can open a jar of potatoes and make soup in a moments notice. I may decide against ever canning potatoes again but maybe it will be good.
I made my daughter a beautiful poncho. She and my son in law live on our little farm. They raise cows and pigs and other animals for food and for selling. They also cut hay for other farmers and they bail it...they work hard. Even in the cold winter, they go out and feed their cattle and also they feed the cattle on one of the largest ranches in AR so they work hard. She often throws on an old jacket but I know it is bulky and hard for her to work in so she is often taking it off and then she gets chilled. I made a really nice poncho for one of her sons so he could wear it while deer hunting...it's real manly and she loved it and she wears it when he isn't using it at the deer stand. So, I made her one. I used heavy denim and lined it with a light fleece. I thought it was going to be too heavy but it isn't heavy at all. I decided to put a hood on it too so after I made it, I had to go back and take the neck part out and play with a design until I got the perfect hoodie and it's perfect. I hope I remember how I did it so I can make me one. LOL. Now all my sewing is done and I can put the sewing machine up until we get moved and get my craft room set up. Yeah.
Today, I am canning those potatoes and fighting with my cat. I swear, two of my *****es sleep all day and never bother me but one complains all day long. She meows and nips at me and I know she isn't hungry, her litter box is clean, and she has water. I think she just wants me to hold her all day and I am not doing it. She finally fell asleep so when I got up, I was so quiet because I didn't want to wake her up...that's messed up to be so controlled by my animals but I do love her and wouldn't trade her in for three that make no sounds.
B: 1 fried in pam egg
L: Cottage cheese and fruit
D: Shrimp and some vegetable...I know not yet
Snacks: cucumbers and celery
I'm on my way to Tahoe soon...will be gone for four days with no internet unless I run into town. Can't predict food either...
Time to craft like a crazy woman...
